


Outside the Bubble

by QueenCarol



Category: McHart - Fandom, The Good Fight (TV), The Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/M, Pregnant Diane Lockhart, The Good Fight AU, The Good Wife AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-07-28 22:45:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16251326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenCarol/pseuds/QueenCarol
Summary: Ficlets based around the wonderful relationship that is McHart, with its ups and downs, happiness and sadness, and flawed characters that have woven a life that needs to survive outside of the bubble.Some of this will be fluffy, some of them will be AU, some of them will hopefully be tearjerking.





	1. Dancing

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Diane Lockhart, Kurt McVeigh, Will Gardner and any other recognizable character or plot of The Good Wife and The Good Fight belong to CBS Network and The Kings.
> 
> In no way is the author claiming ownage of any of the characters nor is there any economical/monetary gain at any time. The author is extremely respectful of the original creators and is willing to take down this work of fiction if requested.
> 
> Only original characters are property of the author.

**1.**

The first time they ever danced was at her home, classical music in the background.

It wasn’t really a song he’d usually dance to, but Diane had been so wired up over a case that he felt she needed to relax.

He’d approached her, pushed away her paperwork without listening to her protest, then offered her a hand. Diane had sighed in defeat and taken his offer.

They’d danced two full waltzes, their bodies pressed closed together, Diane fully relaxed against his body.

 

**2.**

Their wedding had been slotted at a moment where both of them could be at the courthouse.

Diane had been needed afterwards so she’d gone back to the firm and he’d gone back to work.

That night, after they were both done for the day, Kurt insisted they observe certain traditions such as carrying her and all of her papers, under the threshold, the cake cutting of a tiny two person cake, bust most importantly, their first dance as husband and wife in the middle of a semi-darkened living room, with no one but themselves to see it.

 

**3.**

After Will dies, Diane often finds herself missing the little dance they did to celebrate.

Knowing his wife misses her best friend and feels a void every time they have a huge win, he starts receiving her at home with upturned music, ready to dance away her success.

 

**4.**

When they separate, the one thing that Diane misses the most, other than Kurt himself, is their little dances in their bedroom.

They would both be barefoot, she would wrap her arms around his neck, and lean her head against him. All her troubles would melt away as she inhaled his manly smell. She would feel tiny in his arms, protected and loved.

Often than not Diane would end up going to bed in tears.

 

**5.**

When they finally end the separation one of the first things that Kurt does is pull her against him to dance, right in the middle of the kitchen.

Diane resists for a second but after Kurt gives her a begging look she molds herself to him.

She thought she’d cry everything she needed to cry, had processed all the pain of his betrayal and their separation, until that very moment.

Wrapped in his arms, Diane slowly unraveled, sobs taking over her body.

Kurt doesn’t let her go, tightening his hold on her waist.

He holds her as she finally lets go of the pain and anger completely.


	2. Scent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU.
> 
> Diane has always loved Kurts scent; gunpowder, leather and nature. Then why has she suddenly developed such an eversion to it?
> 
> (For the purpose of this list Diane and Kurt met exactly the same way but much earlier in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Diane Lockhart, Kurt McVeigh, Will Gardner and any other recognizable character or plot of The Good Wife and The Good Fight belong to CBS Network and The Kings.
> 
> In no way is the author claiming ownage of any of the characters nor is there any economical/monetary gain at any time. The author is extremely respectful of the original creators and is willing to take down this work of fiction if requested.
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Only original characters are property of the author.

**1.**

Diane has always loved the scent that is uniquely Kurt; the crisp of nature, worn leather and gunpowder.

After long days she likes to curl up with him on the sofa. She usually falls asleep with her nose buried against his chest. When he picks her up to take her to bed, she presses her nose to his neck and breathes him in.

 

**2.**

Since they started dating, she can’t help but always take in a deep breath whenever they embrace, his scent grounding her, melting away all her tension from a full day at the courthouse.

Five years into their marriage and she still does it.

 

**3.**

It was very surprising to wake up one day and not be able to stomach his scent.

It was suddenly too strong; the scent of leather made her dizzy and the scent of gunpowder left a hole in her stomach.

He took extra care to bathe that day but it did nothing to help her.

Turns out that her sense of smell was heightened because she was expecting their first baby.

 

**4.**

For the first couple of months of her pregnancy the symptoms continued and Kurt tried everything he could to help but it was no use.

She eventually got used to it, was able to calm her sickness enough, but it wasn’t until he had to go testify out of state that her body seemed to finally accept and crave his scent.

She missed him terribly and by the kicking of their child she knew the baby missed him as well. She ended up falling sleep against his pillow, one of his used jackets covering her.

 

**5.**

He didn’t want to go but eventually he has to leave them to testify on a case. 

it’s far enough away that he has to stay overnight and as much as he swore he could get up early and drive there instead of staying at a hotel, Diane reassured him that they would be alright.

And they were alright, that is until their little baby woke up in the middle of the night.

Usually Kurt was the one to tend to her at night, wanting Diane to rest as much as possible, but with Kurt gone and their daughter’s routine disrupted, Diane was left trying to calm an inconsolable baby.

Exhausted, sleep deprived and with a headache, Diane wraps herself and their baby in his jacket, his scent grounding her once again and calming her after hours of being awake.

It seems his scent has the same effect on their daughter for she soon stops screaming, her tear stroked face coming back to its normal color. When Kurt comes back home, rushing as soon as his testifying is done, he finds his two exhausted ladies deep in sleep, his jacket embracing them.

 


	3. Arabella and Lucien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They'd always wanted to form a family, had talked about it long and hard, and they welcomed their children with open arms and loving hearts.
> 
>  
> 
> (On Tumblr I was asked to do 5 headcanons of McHart's children. I took the challenge and thus Arabella and were born. They are my original characters in a parallel universe in which Kurt and Diane met the exact same way but much earlier in life, thus they are younger and still able to form a family.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Diane Lockhart, Kurt McVeigh, Will Gardner and any other recognizable character or plot of The Good Wife and The Good Fight belong to CBS Network and The Kings.
> 
> In no way is the author claiming ownage of any of the characters nor is there any economical/monetary gain at any time. The author is extremely respectful of the original creators and is willing to take down this work of fiction if requested.
> 
> Only original characters are property of the author.
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> NOTE:  
> On Tumblr I was asked to do 5 headcanons of McHart's children. I took the challenge and thus Arabella and were born. They are my original characters in a parallel universe in which Kurt and Diane met the exact same way but much earlier in life, thus they are younger and still able to form a family. They will probably appear in various chapters, sprinkled here and there.

**1.**  
When Diane goes into labor, right in the middle of cross examining a certain ballistic expert, Diane knows right there and then that her daughter will be a daddy’s girl.

She’s perfectly fine with it because she knows that ever since they found out she was pregnant, Kurt has focused his entire world on them and their well being. In fact, he didn’t even want her to go into work today but she had insisted since she had been prepping for months for the trial.

The timing just tells her that her daughter is already siding with her papa.

 

**2.**

As exhausted as she is after 13 hours of labor, the sight of Kurt holding their daughter, so tiny and new and red, takes away all her pain.

She can’t believe they have a child even though she carried her for 9 months.

“No reading her the Palin biography until she’s at least 5” she teases him.

Kurt only let’s go of the baby whenever it’s feeding time and then it’s her turn to narrow her world down to her little one.

She’s perfect.

Diane knows she’s gonna change the world. “No going to Democratic parties until she’s 5.” He teases back.

 

**3.**

Finding out that they were pregnant the first time around hadn’t been special at all.

She had been nauseous, dizzy and barely able to stand Kurt being near her since her sense of smell had practically rejected what she referred to as the ‘stench of leather and gun powder’.

When she finds out she’s expecting their second child, Diane wants to make it special.

She ends up purchasing the tiniest cowboy getup she had ever seen, for she’s certain this time around they are having a boy. Her daughter, whom they’ve named Arabella, after Arabella Mansfield, the first ever woman lawyer in the states, gets dressed in a little cowgirl dress and boots which she proudly displays to everyone in her mother’s law-firm on their way out to the special dinner they have planned.

They meet Kurt at his favorite rustic dinner, Arabella constantly fidgeting with her dress to catch her Papa’s attention.

After a delicious dinner, when Kurt finally asks her about her dress, Arabella finally blurts out what she’s been pinky sworn to keep a secret until that moment.

“Papa! We are having a baby cowboy!” She says as she shoves the little cowboy getup into her father’s face.

Afterwards Diane has to pat his back for more than a minute as he tries not to choke on the coffee he prematurely swallowed.

 

**4.**

Well into her eight month of pregnancy the second time around, Diane comes home one day to find both her husband and daughter sitting on the sofa, arms crossed, looks of displeasure on their face.

“What?” She asks them as she moves to take off her very expensive wedge shoes.

Kurt opens his mouth to speak but it’s Arabella that cuts in. “Mama! You were supposed to be here three hours ago! My baby needs to rest!”

Diane can’t help but let out a belly laugh as Kurt nods in agreement.

It’s good this was the last of the cases she was working on, because needless to say she goes into maternity leave by the end of the week.

 

**5.**

Arabella Lockhart-McVeigh, ever the self-assured, straightforward, curious and kind little girl they had raised her to be, insists she wants to be there for the birth of her brother.

With the promise that Kurt would take her away if anything went wrong, they had agreed to let her in with them.

Far too curious for her own well being, and with a very patient OBGYN, she ends up sitting on the doctor’s lap, watching everything that is happening as the doctor explains the birth of her brother.

Afterwards, snuggled against her mother as her brother takes his first meal, Arabella announces “His name is Lucien “.

Diane’s eyes instantly fill with tears as she turns to look at Kurt, who proudly nods at his wife’s unspoken question. It seems that while she and Kurt agreed to wait until the baby was born to find a name, Kurt and their daughter had plotted to name the baby after Diane’s father.

The plan has the effect they wanted and Diane’s heart feels like it will burst with love for her little family.


	4. Diane is pregnant V.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They hadn't been trying to have a child. They wanted a family, but not for a long time. And yet, Diane was pregnant.
> 
> WARNING: MISCARRIAGE
> 
> NOTE: This was a topic given to me on Tumblr. My mind ran with it and produced two versions of the same phrase being used. This is the first version. As before, this takes place in a world where Diane and Kurt met the same way but much earlier in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Diane Lockhart, Kurt McVeigh, Will Gardner and any other recognizable character or plot of The Good Wife and The Good Fight belong to CBS Network and The Kings.
> 
> In no way is the author claiming ownage of any of the characters nor is there any economical/monetary gain at any time. The author is extremely respectful of the original creators and is willing to take down this work of fiction if requested.
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Only original characters are property of the author.

**1.**

They hadn’t been trying for a baby.

They both had extremely busy lives, going in and out of courts, juggling personal and professional lives; sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Yet, when Diane had showed him the blood results after feeling ill for so long, they both ended with grins on their faces.

They were going to be parents.

Deciding to keep it a secret had been hard, specially when they wanted to shout it from the roof tops. She was almost three months along when she finally told Will and only because he was starting to eye her weirdly.

 

**2.**

She’d been in the middle of a class action suit, stressed beyond belief even with Will taking it upon himself to do much of the legwork, when it happened.

Will always told her she had to take it easy because of the baby, but the client continued to push for her, threatening to go to another law firm if she didn’t handle his case. She’d eventually had to relent and take over the cross-examination.

With the witness not cooperating and pleading the 5th to a murder charge and the prosecutor screaming behind her almost after every word she said, Diane was at the end of her rope. Her head hurt, she felt like she could barely breathe, she kept trying to clear her sight by closing and opening her eyes, and her belly hurt.

“Diane!” She heard her partner call out for her when a particularly sharp pain made her doble over, her hand covering the swell of her belly. She heard him rush to her side while the rest of the courtroom gasped in disbelief at what they were seeing. Her cream colored pants were quickly soaking with blood.

“Someone call an ambulance!” Will cried out as he cradled her close.

All Diane kept saying, in a whisper almost like a prayer was “No, no, no, please no.”

 

**3.**

After having lost their baby, Diane was devastated.

Kurt remained by her side, consoling her, crying with her, and taking care of her. She’d taken some time away from the firm while she regained her strength, then she’d come back to work with a vengeance, winning case after case. A baby was the last thing on her mind for a long time.

Three years after losing their child, when the pain had simmered enough that they could think back to the wonderful moments they had experienced in their short pregnancy, Diane finally asked Kurt if a family was still something he wanted.

“Yes.” He admitted, “but only if it’s with you and only when you are ready.”

It had taken her almost five months of debating until she finally broached the topic once again.

“Kurt?” She said softly, their bodies intertwined and slowly cooling from their love-making. “I think I’m ready.”

“For what?” He asked, still trying to catch his breath.

“A baby.” She turned in his arms, her eyes as raw as they had been the first night after leaving the hospital when they had lost their baby. “I think I’m ready for us to try for a baby, again.”

 

**4.**

It didn’t happen right away. They still had to balance work and home, track her cycle and her ovulation, make love wherever they could. Once again they were in the middle of a very intense case, Diane having to work from home because of what she kept trying to convince herself was a stomach bug. Will had dropped by to work on strategy, a speaker connecting them to the rest of the partners at the firm.

“I’m telling you the only way we can win this is if we attack the video expert.” Diane told her partner. “The video is the only evidence they’ve been able to produce and it’s clearly manufactured evidence. We have to attack the veracity of their expert and the tape itself.”

Before Will could answer, Kurt appeared besides Diane. He was holding a stick in his hand, his eyes wide, his face showing the incredulity that had settled in his very soul.

“What is that?” Will asked as he noticed Diane turn to look at Kurt then grow completely still. “Is that?”

Kurt knelt by Diane, whose eyes were already filling with tears. “When?”

Diane cleared her throat from the emotion which threatened to consume her. “This morning. I… I…. I took it and completely forgot about it.”

“What’s going on?” David Lee’s very confused voice came through the speaker. “Will? Diane? Can you hear us?”

“Is it..?” Diane asked, not needing to finish before Kurt was turning the stick around for her to see. Diane gasped and brought a shaking hand up to her mouth.

Kurt gave her a nod, confirming what she already knew, before he threw his arms around her, sliding her off the sofa and straight into his arms. Diane made a sound between a laugh and a cry, having convinced herself that this was nothing and having taught herself not to expect a positive results.

Diane curled her arms around his neck, her lips sealing over his in a deep kiss, her hand coming up to cup his cheek lovingly.

“What the hell is going on?” David Lee’s voice didn’t seem to disrupt the happiness the parents-to-be felt.

It was Will, who had been staring impatiently from Diane to Kurt, that broke the news to whomever could hear.

“DIANE IS PREGNANT!”

 

**5.**

Kurt being overprotective was endearing; he always accompanied her to work and made sure to be there whenever she was ready to go home, no matter the time, he made sure she ate well, slept well and reminded her when enough was enough and she had to let go of work.

Will on the other hand was insufferable. He was constantly asking her if she felt alright, if she was in any pain, if she wanted something to eat, if she was too exhausted to talk to a client or go to court. He took to heart Kurt’s request to look after his girls.

Of course it had to be in Will’s presence that she finally went into labor.

She’d gotten up to grab a file and as always Will had scrambled to reach it for her which only earned him a roll of the eyes. “It’s just Braxton pain, not real ones.”

“I still say you should call Kurt.” Will egged. “I already texted him.”

“You did whaaaagh!”

“I texted him. I rather text him than have to face the end of one of his guns.”

“Will…” Diane tried to interrupt him.

“I know you say he would never actually go through with his thread but I’d rather…”

“Will!”

“...err on the side of caution and just let him know you are being stubbo…”

“WILL!”

“What?” When he finally turned to look at Diane she was leaning against her desk for support. “Hey… hey what’s wrong?” His tone of voice went tender and caring as he moved to her. “What the hell?” He mumbled as he found the floor wet; he had walked right over Diane's broken waters.

“Call Kurt, tell him his daughter is coming.”

By the time Kurt had made it out of the courtroom and into the hospital, Diane had Will’s hand in a vice grip while the nurses told her to keep pushing. Their daughter waited until her father made it to the room and took over Will’s place at Diane’s side, before being born.

At 6:45 pm on a windy Wednesday, Arabella Lockhart-McVeigh was born.

“She looks just like you.” Kurt tells his wife as he looks down at the little bundle that is his daughter. “She has your nose and your lips.”

“I think she has your ears.” Diane tells him as she caressed a tiny hand that is wrapped around her finger.

Regardless of who she looked like, Arabella was perfect.

“I think she has my chin.” Will’s voice came out of nowhere which only make Kurt chuckle.

“Sure she does Will.” Diane mocks him a little.

He had truly gone above and beyond for her, staying by her side when she was so scared of going into delivery on her own. She would tease him later about his lack of skin color once she started to squeeze his hand and actively push. “Your god-daughter looks exactly like you.”

“She sure does.” Will agrees with her, giving her a tiny smirk before crossing the room and leaning down to kiss Diane’s forehead. “You did good. You did really good.” He tells her. “After going through this nothing will stop you.” He looks down at Arabella and gently caresses her blonde hair. “She does look like you. May the world be ready for her.”

Once Will had left and Arabella had been fed, Kurt sat besides Diane with his daughter in his arms. He was amazed at her strength and at how she already had him wrapped around her little finger.

Diane leaned against his shoulder, sighing in relief of finally having their baby, safe and sound, with them. “It looks good on you. Carrying a baby. Fatherhood.”

If she already liked to look at her husband, now with a baby in his arms, she was completely lost.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” He promises before leaning down and giving her a soft kiss on the lips. “Will was right, you did great, but now you need to rest.” He reminded her. “Sleep a little.”

“You got her?” She asked, already closing her eyes as she continued to lean against him.

“Don’t worry. I got her.” He promises. “I got both my girls.”


	5. Diane is pregnant V.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They had tried to have a child for so long. They had done everything to make their dream a reality. It had never happened. Now, after the worst mistake of his life, Kurt is about to find out that dreams do not have an expiration date.
> 
>  
> 
> NOTE: This was a topic given to me on Tumblr. My mind ran with it and produced two versions of the same phrase being used. This is the second version. As before, this takes place in a world where Diane and Kurt met the same way but much earlier in life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:
> 
> Diane Lockhart, Kurt McVeigh, Will Gardner and any other recognizable character or plot of The Good Wife and The Good Fight belong to CBS Network and The Kings.
> 
> In no way is the author claiming ownage of any of the characters nor is there any economical/monetary gain at any time. The author is extremely respectful of the original creators and is willing to take down this work of fiction if requested.
> 
> No copyright infringement intended.
> 
> Only original characters are property of the author.

**1.**

“Diane is pregnant.”

His heart stops on his chest, he is sure of it. What he is hearing can’t be true. This must all be a sick joke of faith.

They had tried to have a family for the longest time. They’d tried the natural way and with medical help, but it simply hadn’t happened for them. Work had pulled them further apart, they saw less and less of each other, and though he loved her like he’d never loved and never would love anyone else, he had committed the worst mistake of his life.

He’d cheated on her.

He still can’t believe he actually cheated on her. He can blame it on a thousand things, but the fact remains that he was weak and he risked everything for a roll in the sheets that meant nothing.

He lost everything; he lost the woman he loved, he lost the home they built together, and apparently he lost the chance to be a father.

“Did you hear me Kurt? Diane is pregnant! Did you know about this?” No, he doesn’t know a thing. If it isn’t because one of his best friends is telling him, he wouldn’t know a thing.

“What are you going to do?”

He has to see her.

 

**2.**

He knows calling her will result in nothing so he had makes his way to her law firm. It is late but he knows she will still be there.

With her assistant long gone for the day, he slowly moves towards her open door and knocks on it just to alert her to his presence.

She’s sitting at her desk, her head leaned down as she pours over paperwork. He feels bad when his knock makes her jump slightly. Her desk is covering her body so he can’t really see a thing but he does notice some changes on her face. Her cheeks are fuller, her cheekbones not as marked. She seems to have a natural glow to her and her hair seems thick and strong.

“Hey.” He says, his hands back in his pocket. He feels like a kid, like someone who can’t seem to function in front of his crush, except she’s his estranged wife and he’s the reason they’ve separated.

“What are you doing here?” She asks right away, her voice and posture telling him she’s immediately on defense.

“I…”. He could lie. He could say he was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by. He could also tell the truth; that he’d been missing her like crazy and had been hoping to find an excuse to drop by and now he has the perfect excuse. “I heard something and I wanted to see if it was real.”

Diane sighs and takes off her glasses. “I knew she was going to tell you.”

So she had seen his friend at the restaurant. She knew that he would try and find out if it was real. She wasn’t expecting him to actually go, though.

“So it’s true?” He aka her. “You are pregnant.”

Diane nods. He knows she’s carefully gathering her feelings, putting up the wall to protect herself. “How many months?”

Diane doesn’t get up, doesn’t show him her belly. “Seven months.”

It had to have happened on the last time they were together, a couple of nights before his betrayal was exposed to a whole court. The times match.

“Kurt, I don’t expect anything from you.” Diane starts feeling him. “I’m more than capable of taking care of my child.”

“Our child.” He quickly corrects. “Diane… we’ve wanted this for so long.”

“Don’t.” She interrupts him from continuing with a raised hand. She gets up, for the first time showing him her new silhouette, and he can’t help but want to run his hands over her belly.

She’s gorgeous. She has always been slim, since he met her, but now her pregnancy has filled her out. Pregnancy suits her.

She walks, as sure as she has ever walked on those high heels, to the door only to show him out. “You don’t have a claim on this. This is my baby and mine alone. It ceased being your anything the moment you decided to have sex with… that woman.”

“Diane…”

“No Kurt.” She says louder, firmer, her eyes filling with tears as she tries to deny her pain. “You are not welcome here. Leave before I have you escorted out.”

He doesn’t want to hurt her further. He doesn’t want to jeopardize her or their child’s health.

He leaves.

 

**3.**

It’s two weeks later that he finally meets her for dinner. He has called multiple times, being shut down by her at first, then by her assistant. He didn’t give up, not until he finally got her to agree to meet him for dinner, to talk about the baby.

She has a cute waddle, something he hadn’t detected when he saw her two weeks ago. She’s still carrying high which tells him he has some time to make his case.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.” He admits quickly.

Diane takes a sip of her water before smoothing her hands over her belly and folding them underneath the swell. “I’m 30 weeks along. I found out I was pregnant shortly after we separated.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt whatever it was that you had going on with Holly.” She tells him as she raises an eyebrow. She’s gearing up for a fight, he knows it, just as she knows that he had nothing with Holly. “As I said, I can take care of my child. Rest assured I am not going to be suing for child care, I don’t expect you to provide a single thing. You didn’t even have to find out.”

“I have nothing with Holly… she was a mistake. What happened was a mistake.” Kurt states as clearly as he can so that she can see he’s not lying to her. “Diane, I constantly called you, I left you messages begging for forgiveness, I told you I wanted to see you, to explain…”

“Explain what?” Diane interrupted. “That I wasn’t enough? That you weren’t in love anymore? That you were bored?” She questioned. “What was it that you wanted to explain?”

“That I had made a mistake.” He said after visibly deflating. “That I still love you.”

Diane raises a hand to quickly brush away a tear. He knows she doesn’t want to show her feelings, doesn’t want to show how much he’s hurt her. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

Diane takes a deep breath, brushing away a couple of tears. “A girl. Her name is Arabella Lockhart.”

“Arabella?”

“Named after the first woman lawyer.” She elaborates. “She’s healthy; we’ve done all kinds of tests and they all come back clear. She’s growing well between her developmental bracket. She… she’s perfect.”

“And you?”

“I’m fine too.” She states as shortly as she can.

There’s awkward silence between them where there once was passion. He doesn’t know how to say what he so desperately wants to tell her; that he’s sorry, that he’s at fault for throwing away their future, that he wants nothing more than a second chance to prove to her how much he loves her.

“Kurt? What do you want?”

She finally breaks the silence. “Why did you want to have dinner?”

He takes a moment to answer, to gather his thoughts and truthfully reply. “A chance.”

Diane stares at him for what feels like forever. “A chance?”

“To show you I love you. To show you she was just a mistake. To show you that it wasn’t wrong to get married. To… to be her father.”

“Kurt…”

“That’s all I want Di.” He promises. “Just a chance, just one, to make it up to both of you.”

 

**4.**

He’s not surprised that Diane has everything ready for the baby. She’s converted one of the rooms in their home, the closest one to what used to be their bedroom, to be the nursery. The walls are painted a pastel yellow. The ceiling has been painted as the sky on a beautiful morning. There is a wardrobe to the side, a changing table, a rocking chair and a antique European vintage style cradle. They are all a beautiful off-white. It’s screams of Diane’s style.

He can’t help but trace the pictures of the sonograms that are displayed over the changing table, each giving him more detail of the baby he’s barely getting to know.

The second time he visits, to help Diane sort through her baby shower gifts, he adds a teddy bear to the cradle. It’s one of those vintage style teddy bears with arms, legs and heads that can be positioned.

Diane sees it and smiles. He thinks she approves.

 

**5.**

He goes with her to her next appointment, throws a million and one questions at the doctor in his quest to know as much as he can from Arabella. Diane remains quiet through his interrogation, her eyes fixated at the screen.

Afterwards, each with their copy of the latest ultrasound, they relax on her couch. He can’t keep his eyes off her, specially her belly, which moves and changes with he movement their daughter does.

“Do you want to feel her?” Diane asks him.

He nods, his hand pressing against her belly tenderly, as if he could hurt her with just his touch. He hasn’t touched Diane since the morning of the day his shameful secret came out. He isn’t sure whether this is a step forward or not, but he’ll take it.

“Wait for it,” She whispers, her hand covering his as she guides it to the correct spot. “She’ll kick in a couple of seconds. Once she’s awake nothing seems to stop her. She specially gets kicking whenever she hears you.”

“Me?” He asks incredulous.

“Yes.”

With the first movements he’s ever felt of his daughter, he not only knows he will devout his life to making Arabella happy, but he will strive to be the best husband he can be, the man Diane deserves, and even if it takes him the rest of his life, he will make sure that Diane understands how much she is loved.

 

**6.**

It’s the middle of the night when his phone starts ringing. He doesn’t even check who it is before answering, sleepily mumbling a “hello”.

“Kurt?” Diane’s voice sound unsure and pained. He’s instantly fully awake.

“Di? Are you alright?”

“I… I think so.” She whimpers, actually whimpers into the phone. He’s off the bed and hastily searching for his clothing. “I… I think I’m in labor.”

That stops him cold. Her due date is not for another two weeks. Is this normal? Are she and the baby in danger.

“I was going to request a ride,” She admits. “to… to the hospital, but I wondered if you… if you could or wanted…”

“I’m on my way.” He promises eagerly.

He hears a release of air on the other side of the phone before a soft chuckle graces his ear. “Don’t rush cowboy, we have time.”

He’s never driven as fast in all of his life.

 

**7.**

He’s there during the birth, he holds Diane’s hand and when needed, slides behind her to give her the support she needs, gasps and cries when his squealing daughter is placed against Diane’s chest and cuts the chord that unites mother and daughter.

He can hardly take his eyes away from his daughter as she is taken to be weighed and measured, cleaned and prodded to see her reactions and her placement in reaction times.

She passes the tests and while Diane delivers the afterbirth and gets cleaned, he is given the tiny little bundle that is Arabella Lockhart.

“She’s perfect, just like her mother.” He tells her once he’s successfully transferred Arabella to her mother’s arms.

The nurse comes in to ask for the baby’s name and Kurt quickly, and proudly answers. “Arabella Lockhart.”

From her place on the bed, their little one nursing from her breast, Diane shakes her head. “No. Arabella Lockhart-McVeigh.”

Kurt turns to look at her to make sure that he heard right. “Are you sure?”

“You wanted a second chance, cowboy.” She reminds him. “Don’t mess it up”

He sees nothing but love in Diane’s eyes. She’s giving him a second chance, a chance he doesn’t deserve but will greedily take.

Turning towards the nurse he can’t help but grin and repeat. “Arabella Lockhart-McVeigh, her name is Arabella Lockhart-McVeigh.”


End file.
